Tweets compare Russia probe to ‘McCarthyism’

Credit: The Associated Press

President Donald Trump walks down the stairs as he arrives on Air Force One at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, N.J., Friday, Aug. 17, 2018, en route to Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Trump compared the Russia investigation to McCarthyism in a Twitter tirade yesterday, insisting that his White House counsel isn’t a “RAT” like the Watergate-era John Dean.

Trump called special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe a “disgusting witch hunt,” and “McCarthyism at its WORST!”

In a series of angry tweets, Trump denounced a New York Times story that White House counsel Don McGahn has been extensively cooperating with the Russia investigation without Trump’s full knowledge.

“The failing @nytimes wrote a Fake piece today implying that because White House Councel Don McGahn was giving hours of testimony to the Special Councel, he must be a John Dean type ‘RAT,’ ” Trump tweeted. “But I allowed him and all others to testify — I didn’t have to. I have nothing to hide....”

The New York Times was standing by the story yesterday.

Boston University political analyst Tobe Berkovitz said Trump’s claims have merit, calling the comparison of the probe to McCarthyism a “valid point.”

“Both sides make all sorts of wild claims and allegations, which sometimes have some substantiation behind them and sometimes are pulled out of whole cloth,” Berkovitz said. “Then they sort of disappear and you never know whether there was facts behind it or not.”

Berkovitz added that he thinks there could be similarities to Watergate in the Russia investigation.

“Once the facts are known — if they’re ever known — people are going to see if it’s Watergate one way or another, be it Watergate with the president violating all sorts of laws or Watergate with the CIA and the FBI tampering with the role of investigations,” Berkovitz said. “We’ll see which way that’s going to come down in history.”

But he said for short-term voter consumption, “What Trump does is he fights back and for better or for worse, depending which side of the political spectrum you’re on, it either shows that he’s standing up for himself and his supporters or it shows he is a demigod and a true threat to democracy. We’ll find out what the truth is later or sooner.”

Meanwhile Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s lead attorney in the ongoing probe, explained, during his appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” yesterday, that he won’t let Mueller rush Trump into testifying because he doesn’t want investigators to trap the president in a lie.

“When you tell me that, you know, he should testify because he’s going to tell the truth and he shouldn’t worry, well, that’s so silly because it’s somebody’s version of the truth. Not the truth,” Giuliani said. “Truth isn’t truth.”

Dean reacted to Giuliani on Twitter, writing, “Pure Orwellain ‘doublespeak’ out of Rudy this morning. At some point the City Bar Of NY or the NY State Bar is going to tell Rudy he is bringing shame on his profession and demand that he cease and desist! He has become embarrassingly unprofessional!”

Dean, the former White House counsel who became a star witness against former President Richard Nixon, also tweeted in response to the New York Times story the night before: “Nixon, generally very competent, bungled and botched his handling of Watergate. Trump, a total incompetent, is bungling and botching his handling of Russiagate. Fate is never kind to bunglers and/or botchers! Unlike Nixon, however, Trump won’t leave willingly or graciously.”